Rolston, Gaborik lead Wild to sixth straight win

Rolston snapped a third-period tie and Marian Gaborik added a
goal and an assist as the Wild won their sixth straight game
with a 4-2 victory over the Calgary Flames.

In equaling its longest winning streak of the campaign set from
October 5-18, Minnesota (42-24-7) remained one point behind the
Vancouver Canucks (43-23-6) for first place in the Northwest
Division race.

"That was a huge game for us," Wild right wing Pavol Demitra
said. "Every time we play here, they come on strong. They're a
hard-working team. We slowed down a bit in the first 20
minutes, but especially the last 20, we played great hockey, got
good bounces, and we scored goals."

"As soon as the legs were there, we turned things around,"
Minnesota left wing Stephane Veilleux said. "We got more
chances and created more things. It was a great effort by our
goaltending. It was a good team win for us. We kind of turned
things around after the first goal."

Rolston put the Wild in front for good at 4:47 of the third
period when his slap shot from the left faceoff circle got
between goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff's pads and trickled over the
goal line.

"Anytime I get time to shoot, I'll try it," Rolston said. "Some
were saying on our bench that it dropped a little bit, which
could have been the case."

Gaborik, who scored his 25th goal in the first period, set up
Demitra's insurance tally with 5:01 to play as the Wild raised
their road mark to 15-3-2 since January 9.

"We follow our system," Demitra said. "It (has) been working
for many years. That's how we win games. We've got a good solid
four lines."

Alex Tanguay snapped a 1-1 tie for Calgary at 4:32 of the second
period when his one-timer from the slot beat goaltender Niklas
Backstrom to the stick side. It was his 21st goal of the
season.

"Last time I looked, we were eight points up on Colorado,"
Tanguay said after Calgary lost for the fifth time in six games.
"I don't think we need to push any panic button yet. The last
two hockey years, the eighth-place team went onto the Stanley
Cup final. We are confident in our group. There's no reason to
start doubting ourselves."

Minnesota answered roughly four minutes later as Veilleux
redirected Keith Carney's shot from inside the blue line past
Kiprusoff's right pad.

"It was a good play," Veilleux said. "It went to the point and
I went to do a screen in front of the puck. It hit my stick at
the same time as the skate of the Calgary guy."

Backstrom made 19 saves and extended his personal winning streak
to five for Minnesota, which swept its three-game road trip.

Daymond Langkow opened the scoring just 32 seconds into the game
and Kiprusoff stopped 22 shots for the Flames (37-25-10), who
are five points behind the seventh-place Dallas Stars (42-24-5)
in the West.

"We didn't take enough pucks to the net," Calgary coach Jim
Playfair said. "We didn't put enough there and go there
consistently. But I thought we controlled the play in the
offensive zone enough to create more scoring chances."